To think Gordon Brown has got it so wrong?

[clarea1]

To pledge £6 million to the Haiti government following earthquake. I appreciate the funds are to help those in the wake of a horrendous natural disaster but I am wrong to think that our country in rather in need of £6 million and in a bit of a crap financial position.

Don't get me wrong I can't even begin to grasp the devastation and I support all the charitable efforts by organisations such as christian aid but this country is in a mess and it is us that are paying the price and facing tax increases etc to foot the bill.

All views welcome!

the national lottery is more than £6m sometimes

We donated to Oxfam and to Medicins sans Frontieres.

They're there, the latter has a hospital which is destroyed.

Oh, and YABVU and nasty.

It is a worry though that the aid wont get where it is needed. Haiti is a very corrupt country and the ordinary citizen has had a terrible ride already. I am very worried that aid will get creamed off to the few and the many will continue to suffer.

YOU ARE JOKING,SURELY?

Have you seen the news reports,no infrastructure,no medical care or supplies,bodies piling up in the streets.

Listened to pm this afternoon,reporter stood looking at dead baby.

We are lucky we were born into a western rich counntry.

Those poor people have NOTHING.

I listened to a report today and they interviewed a fatherr whose first daughter had been crushed to death from falling masonry.His second daughter had severe head injuries and had been laid for hours with no treatment.Most likely dead too now.

6 milion is a drop in the ocean to our economy,really,it is.

YABVU

£6 million is nothing to us but a lot towards the cause over there. It is a few pence from each tax payer at the most. If £6million in aid costs us a few pence I reckon it's well worth it.

It's rich Western countries who have fucked over Haiti in the first place. We owe them

Yeah, agree with others that £6m is damn all to the UK, and it will be put to better use in Haiti.

I'd give these people 9 pence, wouldn't you?

It's all it will cost per person by my reckoning

D'ya know, I am so pleased I have seen this thread. Thank God for all the outraged responses from just about everyone who says the OP is BU.

Of all the things Brown has got wrong, this is not one of them. Tens of thousands of people have been killed. 3 million more are injured, lost their homes (ha! have you seen what homes they had before this happened?), have no food, no water and are mourning the deaths of their children, mothers, fathers, partners.

£6m is so very little to us, but it will go a long way to help those people. I hope that Brown pledges more from the UK.

So, to answer your OP, YABVVVVVVVVU

And the reason the country is in a crap financial position is because the economy is a bit knackered atm. It will pick up in time, but a few million quid here and there won't make a blind bit of difference.

And I am sure that substantially more funds have been set aside for foreign aid, so it has already been budgeted for.

I am dubious of any aid being given - but I'm not sure what we can really do to help the people who need it most.

i) Haiti has enough money for palaces/luxury motor transport etc., etc., etc.
ii) I have a friend who works for MSF (medicins sans frontieres), your donations pay for her villa, her marlboros, her jack daniels and her bodyguards so she can sunbathe without being "bothered" north of Mogadishu...

How can we stop these corrupt agencies/governments creaming off the money?

Yup. Stealing that too.

How can you be friends with someone like that skihorse having seen what has just happened?

TBF skihorse, if your friend is in Mogadishu helping people there then I don't begrudge her a break, a drink, a house or some fags. I am sure she is seeeing stuff none of us would ever want to.

When I saw the title of your thread I expected to agree with you that Gordon Brown had got it wrong, that is until I read your OP.

Of course pledging money is the correct thing to do, in fact I think he should of pledged more than £6m.

Appeal on radio 4 now.

As a civilised and humane country, we had a budget for humanitarian aid, so this money would never have been ear-marked for use in the UK, anyway.

YABVU. Be thankful that you don't live in a third world country, let alone one devastated by a natural disaster.

I've cut down the facebook status that your friend used thesecondcoming, as it wouldn't let me use it all. Mine now says this:

You might be sat at home, about to post something witty about Big Brother. Perhaps it has snowed? Or perhaps you are in Haiti, and your kids are buried under several feet of rubble. Or maybe you have survived the earthquake, but are relying on aid from other countries to help dig out and dispose of the dead before dise...ase sets in.

www.redcross.org.uk/emergencysite/campaign.aspx?id=88917

Please give them 10 quid, instead of having - ooh - two pints of lager and a kebab tomorrow evening. Because there's some poor fucker trying to stop people bleeding to death who could do with the money instead.

Anyway, happy new year, and all that.

That seems to fit.

Still can't quite believe anyone thinks that, as one of the richest nations in the world, we shouldn't be giving the people of Haiti any money. Shame on them.

YABreallyfuckingU. We should give more IMO.